PSU Sociology Department

John Bershaw (professor and outgoing Geology chair) and Iris S. De Lis (Sociology graduate student) launched The AI Commons at PSU, an informal gathering space for faculty, staff, and administrators at PSU who want to critically explore AI together as a public‑good issue, not a tech fad. We meet every two weeks and folks can learn more and get on our list here.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r_2y1xX8qmo1UzsdyiFqGdos5ciRGyUjbTNtAqokL5c/edit?tab=t.0

Lindsey Wilkinson (Sociology faculty), Melissa Thompson (Sociology faculty), and Jae Collett (Sociology graduate student). Forthcoming. “Transgender and Gender Diverse Identity, Mental Health Conditions, and Mental Health Care in U.S. Prisons.” Journal of Correctional Health Care, doi: 10.1177/10783458261447499.

Madi Lou has applied for the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness Summer Fellowship.

Jae Collett (Sociology graduate student) successfully defended their thesis, "Intersectional Pathways to Prison and Sentence Disparities: Exploring the Role of Race, Gender Identity, and Sexuality in Women's Sentencing Outcomes" with the support of their committee chair, Melissa Thompson, and committee members Shirley A. Jackson and Emily Shafer (all Sociology faculty).

Hyeyoung Woo (Sociology faculty) organized an invited talk, “The Hitchhiker's Guide to Social Network Analysis,” by Dr. Eun Kyong Shin, an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Korea University and a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University (2025-2026) for the graduate students in the Department of Sociology at PSU.

Emily Fitzgibbons Shafer (Sociology graduate student), Paula England, Madi Lou Abel (Sociology graduate student), and Tamara Ogle (Sociology graduate student). Conditionally Accepted. “Adolescent Sexual Behavior and Perceived Parental Responsibility: Patterns by Parent Gender, Child Gender, and Whether the Sexual Behavior is with a Same-Sex Partner.” In Parenting and Gender: Practices, Ideologies, and Inequalities Across Contexts, Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research. Edited by Dr. Gokhan Savas and Sampson Lee Blair. Leeds, UK: Emerald Publishing.

Madi Lou Abel (Sociology graduate student) was hired for a summer internship with The Educational Innovation and Improvement (EII) team and the Foster Respectful and Equitable Education (FREE) team at OHSU!!

(Sociology graduate student) was accepted to present, “The Place I Can’t Be”: LGBTQ+ Internal Displacement and the Limits of Sanctuary in the Pacific Northwest" at the LGBTQIA2S+ Studies in the Sociology of Sexualities Panel at the 2026 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association [co-authors: Miriam Abelson (Chair of PSU’s Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) and Amy Lubitow (Environmental Science and Management faculty)].🎉🎉